Spotlight on Calls: What Is a Tracking Phone Number?

This is part of a series looking at the value of inbound calls and call tracking.

The smartphone has revolutionized the average customer’s purchasing behavior. Today, buyers are increasingly relying on their smartphones to help them make informed purchasing decisions. According to Google, 70% of mobile searches result in a phone call. Moreover, 52% of all mobile ads lead to a phone call. This is why it’s critical for businesses to track inbound calls. In order to track calls and get more actionable data, you need a tracking phone number.

What Is a Call Tracking Number?

A call tracking number is a unique phone number that is used for a given marketing campaign. The number is routed to your business number, making it easy to track various call metrics associated with the particular marketing strategy.

What is Call Tracking?

The tracking number can either be a local or a toll-free number.

1. Local numbers

Local phone numbers connect your business to the local region or community. The numbers are highly effective for businesses that target customers who prefer to buy from local businesses. Local numbers are also effective when used in campaigns targeting audiences in specific geographical locations.

2. Toll-free numbers

Toll-free numbers project an international impression of your business. The numbers are also free, and therefore, customers won’t incur any costs when they call.

Toll-free vanity numbers can be used for conventional offline marketing campaigns, such as billboards, TV, and radio ads. Moreover, you can use the numbers for your online marketing campaigns as you wait for the tracking number to go live on your website.

When you use a tracking phone number, your potential customers can see it on your offline or online campaigns. When they call the number, the call will be routed to your business number. After the call, you’ll get detailed information such as:

• The campaign from where the call originated
• The caller’s number
• Time of the call
• Area code of the caller
• Duration of the call

From this data, you can see the performance of your marketing campaigns and what you need to improve conversation rates.

Use Call Tracking Software to Track Call

Today, businesses cannot afford to ignore tracking inbound calls. Using call tracking software is an effective way of gathering data that will help you better understand the performance of the different marketing campaigns you may be running.

Call tracking software will not only give you insightful phone call data but also make it easier to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, enhance the experience that customers have with your brands, and improve sales.